


Uncaged

by WarAgainstReality



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M, michean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-26
Updated: 2016-05-26
Packaged: 2018-07-10 09:08:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6976894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarAgainstReality/pseuds/WarAgainstReality
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Winchesters have finally cracked open the Cage and set Michael and Adam free. Now they have to deal with a mostly human archangel and his crushing trauma. Strangely, Michael isn't the person Dean always thought he was.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Uncaged

Dark. That was the only description that could fit the broken angel crumpled in front of him. All of his light was extinguished. The mighty warrior who once ran heaven was reduced into a shivering, catatonic lump on the bunker floor. Dean couldn't see them but, according to Castiel, his once brilliant golden wings were now blackened and twisted with wounds and scars too deep to ever be repaired. You don't leave the Cage without leaving a part of yourself behind.

"Michael," Dean reached out towards the angel only to pull back when Michael flinched away. "Okay, you're safe here. We got you out. You're not in the Cage anymore, you hear me? You're safe."

Dean couldn't bring himself to resent the man in front of him despite their past. He wasn't the same guy hellbent on the apocalypse. If Dean didn't know better, he would swear this wasn't that same proud, all powerful being that stood across from his brother on that battlefield all those years ago. It had to be though. An angel can always tell. He looked more like a rescue dog.

"Are you sure?" Sam murmured to his younger brother. "What-how did that happen?"

"He protected me. That's why he's like this," Adam scowled. "I told the idiot to stop. The Cage destroyed him and what he was. He's basically human now. I don't know if it's permanent or even how the hell he got a body. I woke up and he was like that."

"Woke up?"

"He kept me buried so I didn't feel it. I woke up when it broke him. Lucifer wasn't happy when you left. He needed a new toy. Frankly, he made me miss being eaten alive and that was before... It got much worse. Mike won't talk about it but I can tell. That stuff didnt even make him blink."

Adam caught Dean's eye and nodded towards the angel, "Where do you want him? I doubt he'll let anyone else get close enough to move him."

"Put him in the room beside mine," Dean murmured. "You sure you don't need help?"

"Thanks but no thanks," Adam avoided his eyes. "I don't need you now. If you had showed up a few centuries ago this wouldn't be a problem. Face it, you proved you don't give a shit years ago. We get it so stop putting on a show."

Adam walked over to the mess on the floor and murmured quietly. A moment later, Michael had his arm over Adam's shoulder while Adam basically dragged him through the bunker. The image of the two figures, one emitting a hatred laced with pain and the other a profound sense of brokenness, stayed in Dean's mind. He didn't sleep that night. Instead, despite thinking better of it, he really prayed for the first time in pretty much ever.  
............................................  
Around three AM, Dean finally gave up on the idea of sleep and headed to the library. He could survive a few sleepless nights. He'd done it before. He hadn't slept for weeks after Cas pulled him from hell. He wondered idly just how much worse the Cage was. It sounded like the difference between a Pinto and a Ferrari. Frankly, he felt like a complete ass. He had saved one brother and left the other to burn not to mention everyone else who was screwed over in the process.

A noise interrupted his thoughts: the slightly too loud sound of footsteps. Before he could mentally prepare an excuse to be up, Michael stumbled around the corner. Dean let out an unconscious little sigh of relief.

"Everything okay?" He asked. "Need something?"

"I heard you," Michael merely murmured and sat down in the seat beside him. 

"Sorry," Dean mumbled. "I didn't mean to bother anyone."

Michael merely shook his head, "I heard your prayers. I merely thought you should know you are wrong. You are not the one responsible. I am the one who set everything into motion no matter how hard you and your brother fought against it. You are not the one who should feel guilty. I did this. I was just doing as I was told but that is no excuse. Do not lose sleep over needless guilt."

"What happened to you down there while Adam was out?" Dean couldn't stop himself from asking. "How did you get like this?"

"I stopped," Michael's voice was barely audible. "My father forced me to be on opposing ends of a battle to the death with the brother I raised. I loved him more than anything. How could I fight back when the choice was mine? He didn't see it that way. My complacency made him angry and he fought harder. I deserved it."

"Now you're wrong," Dean frowned slightly. "You did what you thought was right; what was beaten into your head since the beginning of time. I didn't like it but I guess I never stopped to think that Sam and I weren't the only ones stuck in a crappy situation. We all do things we regret. You just have to learn to get past it. Let's let the past be the past."

"Okay."

Dean and Michael headed back to their rooms. Now that he wasn't lost in his own head, Dean noticed just how much difficulty the angel had moving. Each step caused a tiny flash of pain to break through his normally stoic expression. He moved slowly and his breath was labored. Before Dean could bring it up, Michael stumbled. Dean caught him right before he hit the floor.

"Careful," Dean pulled the angel up and supported his weight surprised when he didn't pull away. "You shouldn't even be up in this condition."

"You needed to know you were wrong."

Dean couldn't explain the sudden lump in his throat. He ignored it as he helped the archangel back to the room beside his. Minutes later he was wrapped in his own sheets and both Dean and Michael were finally able to fall asleep.   
............................................  
"Earth to Dean," Sam called as he tried to get his brother's attention for the fifth time that morning. "Dean! Seriously, man, snap out of it."

"Can't a guy think?" Dean growled. "What?"

"What are we going to do about Adam and Michael?"

"Rehabilitate them," Dean met his brother's eyes for the first time that morning. "They need us. Not many people have been to hell and back let alone the Cage. I doubt Adam will talk to us but we have to try."

"You'll find that Adam is far more cooperative this morning," Michael smiled slightly as he stumbled towards the kitchen table. "I have heard that hot water is a miracle worker."

"Hang on there, angel," Dean was up and at his side in an instant. "Didn't you learn your lesson last night? Do you really want to fall again?"

Michael just shook his head, "Thank you." 

"Look, you need help," Dean murmured.   
"Cas tried but you weren't so cooperative straight out of the Cage. You ready to let him try to heal you?"

Michael merely nodded. Sam walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later with Cas in tow. When Castiel reached towards him, he did not flinch away. He merely stiffened his shoulders and looked at the eldest Winchester as if he was forcing himself not to move against his better judgement.

"I can not take away the effects of the Cage," Cas looked to Michael. "However, I can heal the physical ailments left behind. This should make your recovery easier."

Michael merely nodded. He didn't flinch or stagger when he rose from his seat.

"I think that means thank you in embarrassed angel," Dean clapped Cas on the back and went to follow after the newly healed archangel. "Thanks, man."

"Sam?" Castiel turned to the middle Winchester. "What has changed? Something is clearly different."

"Ignore it," Sam grinned. "If I'm right, he might get violent if you confront him."

Michael had gone to stand outside Adam's door. He kept an even tone as he reasoned for the younger Winchester to come out of his room. Despite his water-tight argument, Adam refused to budge. Some wounds fester over time.  
............................................  
"How are you still going?" Dean caught Michael as he went to bang on Adam's door again. "You've been trapped and tortured. You've been beaten until you could barely stand. Why can't you just stop for a minute? This is unhealthy and if I'm saying something's unhealthy that means something."

"I've been alive for as long as life has existed. I saw the birth of the universe and I saw as all time and space lost meaning in the endless prison that is the Cage. I've watched creations freeze and burn. I've seen things that you wouldn't believe and lost things you wouldn't understand. I am not human, Dean, despite how I am now and I do not think like one. After watching these things, the utter devastation, and seeing as time moves on and people forget, I am ancient enough to understand my insignificance. Either I heal with time or I crumble. Either way, I will not stand around waiting for the trauma to disappear when there is something I can do to help."

"You don't make sense," Dean sighed. "How can you go from being the pompous ass that wanted to wear me to the end of the world to some noble, self-depreciating martyr? You can't be both, man. Who are you?"

"I am me," Michael merely shrugged. "I do what must be done despite my own personal feelings. I play the part of the good son even when it means I will suffer. I serve my father and therefore humanity, but my father has not spoken to me since I left the Cage. This is who I am left to my own devices."

"You mean free will," Dean chuckled. "Face it, you can't deny it's real any more. You're living proof."

"No, if I was truly free I would not have to hold back," Michael argued.

"Hold back what?"

"The truth," Michael barely whispered. "The reason why I did not involve myself in the apocalypse until the very end. The reason I sent others with vague instructions instead of trying on my own to follow my father's wishes."

"Tell me?" Dean's voice was uncharacteristally soft. 

"Despite my allegiance, I did not want it to happen," Michael acted as if he was forcing each word from his throat. "I watched over humanity particularly the one meant to be my vessel. After all that had been taken from you, I didn't want to take anything else. It was unfair that this war would cost you the lives of both your parents and your brother. You deserved better. I didn't want you to suffer the same fate as I did."

"I didn't know you actually cared," Dean's voice was so small it was almost inaudible. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't have a choice," Michael answered. "What good is the truth when it changes nothing? It would have only made you more conflicted. Say what you will about me, but I am not cruel."

"No, apparently I am," Dean sighed. 

"No," Michael stopped him. "Someone wise beyond their years once told me to let the past be in the past. It is pointless to dwell on things you cannot change."

"I bet he was handsome," Dean smirked.

To his surprise, Michael nodded. After that, Dean thought of the angel differently. Everything he had known about Michael had been flawed. The truth made all the difference in the world. Maybe, just maybe, all of the flawed creatures in that bunker could heal with time. Whether they healed or crumbled, they would never truly be gone. Each and every one would exist in the stories told by the many people whose lives they had touched. The funny thing is that perspective can show a different truth that is hidden otherwise. Perhaps even a love story.


End file.
